Volunteer litter pickers who have picked up everything from used bottles to used condoms are searching for a new chairman.

Current chairman Douglas Rice, who has been with the Tiverton Volunteer Litter Pickers (TVLP) for 19 years is standing down from the role when a replacement can be found.

He said: “I and Gordon Davis who have been chairman and secretary for many years have now retired after 19 years. This is an opportunity for us to engage the interest of new people who will be willing to take this group into the next decade so what we’re looking for is some assistance with getting that involvement and the right sort of people involved.”

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Current quartermaster of the group Ray Rice added: “We are looking for people who are committed to doing something about litter. We have a treasurer, we have a secretary, we have a quartermaster who is me who has all the gear and hands it out, but what we need is someone to drive the organisation, provide some impetus and provide some direction and some initiative.

“We have decided that we would operate for the next year or so with a chair appointed for each meeting. The chair doesn’t do a lot, but you do need somebody to drive it forward and offer initiative and input.

“We can operate without a chairman, but we won’t make any progress without one, so we need a chairman who is going to take advantage of opportunities.

“We could carry on as we are, doing half a dozen litter picks each year, picking at the Mid Devon Show for example and that sort of thing that we do. To make headway and expand into areas which are there we need the initiative, and that’s where we want help to go.”

Douglas Rice said when the group first launched in 1998 there were no volunteer litter pickers in the town, and in the years since it started, there has been a great increase in the amount of commitment by local authorities and the Government to do something about the litter issue.

“It was a completely new idea, and there were no other litter picking groups,” he said.

Ray Rice, Douglas Rice and Janet Rendle

“We started in 1998, and we gathered a small group. Gordon and Ann Davis and I were the initiators of the team, and we’ve been with it all the time. I think I was motivated by the fact that I didn’t want to see litter being dropped on my road. When I saw them doing it down on the railway line, we thought there was a scope for more people to be involved because it’s something which anyone can do.

“The last decades have been very positive, but one can’t pretend the problem has gone away. Although more resources are being supplied to it, there’s no question that volunteer litter pickers are still needed.

“We found that we can make a huge amount of difference in just a very short period. We pick for an hour, and even that small amount that we do does undoubtedly makes a difference. That makes it quite a satisfying job because you can see quite quickly the impact it has.”

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The TVLP has also emphasised educating people about the litter problem and drawing attention to it through the many litter picks. Currently around ten big picks are held each year by around 12 members at sites such as The Exe Valley Leisure Centre, McDonald’s Salmon Ponds and community centres and spaces.

Typically the group can pick up to 15 or 20 black bags of litter on one of their jaunts, however, despite their efforts, the problem of littering remains.

Janet Rendle, a long-term member of the group, said: “I don’t think it’s really improved that much. Just walking home towards Park Street today it’s shocking. It’s a case of changing the mind-set of the people who drop litter and make them know it’s wrong.

“We used to have competitions in the primary schools which were usually pretty good. You go to the High School, and I don’t know if there’s anyone still doing it, but they used to employ somebody to pick up litter – what message does that give to people?”

Litter pickers after collecting rubbish from the River Lowman

Ray Rice added: “I don’t think the problem is getting better. We’re in a takeaway food age whereas in 1998 it was a fairly rare phenomenon. You had the old fish and chip paper in those days, but you didn’t have the disposable containers from takeaways and elsewhere littering the streets which is a major source of litter now.”

Ray added that areas where school children go, are the worst affected.

He added: “The railway walks on Lea Road can get bad as does the area between Morrisons and the High School. There is also an area up Lea Road towards Two Moors Primary School which can be bad.”

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As for litter found in the last 19 years, the TVLP has discovered tyres, dog poo bags, an exercise bicycle in the River Lowman, and a vacuum cleaner in a hedge.

Ray added: “The first litter pick I did for Rotary when we started the litter pick along the old railway about ten years ago, on that first day I found some striking things. One was an empty condom packet, one was a used condom, and another was torn tights. Now I don’t know if the three were connected, but they weren’t very far apart.”

For more information contact Ray Rice on 01884 257547 or Janet Rendle on 01884 254914.